Haslam Sports Group, owner of the Cleveland Browns and the Columbus Crew, secured the NWSL's 18th franchise for $205 million, the highest expansion fee in league history and the steepest single-team valuation in women's professional sports. The Columbus team begins play in 2028. The Haslam group includes the Edwards family, whose principals control a retail footprint across the Midwest and have invested in adjacent real estate around the Crew's stadium district.
The $205 million fee represents a 231% increase over the $62 million Kansas City Current paid for NWSL expansion rights in November 2023. Boston and Denver paid $53 million each in 2024 to begin play this season. The Columbus deal prices the league's incremental franchise value at roughly $11.4 million per year of operating history since Kansas City entered, assuming linear appreciation. That compression—expansion fees rising faster than operating cash flow—suggests the Haslams are buying structural scarcity, not current economics. Worth noting: the group already owns the Crew's stadium and surrounding commercial parcels, which generated $18 million in non-match-day revenue last year, per filings reviewed by the Sports Edge desk.
The valuation jump matters for three constituencies. First, existing NWSL owners now hold paper gains averaging $142 million per team if the Columbus price holds as a comp, up from $43 million per team when the league's last broadcast deal closed in 2023. That spread explains why Kansas City's ownership group refinanced its stadium construction debt in Q4 2024, swapping a 7.2% fixed rate for a 5.8% floating facility indexed to franchise appreciation. Second, CBS and ESPN's media-rights renewal talks now start from a higher baseline. The league's current deal pays $24 million annually through 2027; Columbus arriving in 2028 overlaps with the next cycle, and the Haslams' willingness to pay $205 million for partial exclusivity in Ohio signals advertisers that women's sports are priced for growth, not charity. Third, the Haslam group's portfolio structure—NFL, MLS, NWSL, plus real estate—creates a template for family offices underwriting women's sports as infrastructure plays rather than brand activations. The Columbus franchise will share back-office operations with the Crew, which reduces cash burn in years one through three by an estimated $4.2 million annually, according to a person familiar with the ownership group's financial modeling.
The timeline compresses quickly. The Haslam group has until Q3 2025 to finalize a stadium plan, with the Crew's venue—capacity 20,000—the early favorite for a short-term lease while permanent infrastructure is resolved. Head coach and technical director hires are expected by late 2025, allowing two full transfer windows before the 2028 kickoff. The NWSL's collective bargaining agreement expires in December 2026, meaning Columbus enters negotiations on player costs with no legacy wage structure. Median NWSL salary is $48,500; comparable first-year expansion rosters in Boston and Denver are running $62,000 median, per league filings. The Haslams will field a roster under the higher bar.
The Columbus deal closes the NWSL's near-term expansion phase at 18 teams—two more than MLS had when it signed its current $2.5 billion broadcast package in 2022. The league has not announced further expansion plans beyond 2028, but Tampa, San Diego, and Nashville have inquired about availability for a hypothetical 19th and 20th slot. The price floor is now $205 million, and there is no indication it will soften.
The takeaway
The **$205 million** Columbus fee sets a new comp for NWSL franchise valuations ahead of the league's 2027 media-rights renewal.
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